Land

 Vietnam is a long strip of land extending north-south in the shape of a letter S.
This country occupies the eastern half of the Indochinese peninsula bounded on the north by China, on the east and south by the Pacific Ocean, and on the west by Cambodia and Laos. Under the French rule (1883-1945), it consisted of three (3) regions:

North Viet-Nam, chief town: Hanoi
Central Viet-Nam, chief town: Hue
South Viet-Nam, chief town: Saigon/ Hochiminh city

In July 21, 1954, with the Geneva Conference, it was divided at the 17^th parallel into 2 parts: the Northern part and the Southern part.

North Vietnam is characterized by a small delta area resulting from the progressive silting over of a shallow gulf, and by a large mountainous region which ends in circular areas northwest of Hanoi and south of the Red River. The lowland of North Viet-Nam is extremely flat, almost entirely built up of alluviums from the Red River and its tributaries. The delta, only a few feet above sea level, is the most productive part of this lowland; all of it is arable. However, flood prevention has always been a serious problem. The rivers flow varies enormously according to the season. Over the past 2,000 years, many dikes and canals have been built to contain the Red River and drain off its flood water. The great majority of the North Vietnamese live in the lowland, and rural densities here reach 2,000 people per square mile, and even 4,000 in the best areas of recent alluviums, and where improved water management assures adequate irrigation and protection from floods. Rice occupies 80 percent of the cultivated area. Most of the rest is devoted to sugar cane, cotton, corn, sweet potatoes and manioc. Much of the farm work is done by hand, with the help of water buffaloes and oxen in spite of recent efforts to increase mechanization. Much of this highland area is forested. North Viet-Nam has deposits of varieties of minerals and valuable deposits of phosphates and chromium. The best coal in Southeast Asia is mined I the Quang-Yen and Hongai anthracite fields.

Central Vietnam consists of a narrow corridor scarcely 120 km wide at most and less than 40 km broad near Dong Hoi. To the South, the coast describes a convex curve against the Pacific Ocean. From the Truong Son mountain range, several perpendicular ramifications just into the sea, interrupting the continuity of the coastal deltas and dividing them into box like compartments which communicate with each other through passes in the mountains. The Central Vietnam is poor in mineral deposit, in rice land and in any industry.

South Vietnam has resulted from the simultaneous silting in a gulf of the Quaternary-Era, and the emerging of a shallow submarine platform. With the exception of a few peaks in the north and east, the whole consists of an unbroken alluvial plain whose 65,000 square kilometers seldom rise more than 2m above sea level. Traditionally the Southern part of Viet-Nam was considered to be richest, not because of any great industry output, but because it produced a surplus of rice. Most the cultivated land in South Vietnam is in the large fertile delta of the Mekong River and around Saigon. Nine tenths of this is planted in rice, watered by the summer monsoon and the subsequent floods and by a network of irrigation canals. As in the North, most of the farm work is done by hand and by draft animals. The farms and rice fields however are much larger than in the North are more suitable for mechanical equipment. Double cropping is less common than in the North, because of the winter dry season. The second most important crop in South Viet-Nam is rubber, grown mainly on plantations. Other plantation crops, include tea, tobacco and coffee grown in the uplands, along with bamboo, cinnamon, timber vegetables dyes, raw silk and vegetables. Sugarcanes, peanuts, corn and copra are also grown, and there is some cattle raising. South Vietnam has few mineral deposits, other than a small coal field and a gold mine, and there is practically no heavy industry, other than chemicals made at Nong-Son and near Da-Nhim. Most of the manufacturing industries are concentrated in the Saigon - Cholon region. They include food processing, cotton spinning and weaving, paper manufacturing, rubber tires, tobacco products, cement, soaps, paint and gunny bags. There are also plants making articles in plastic and aluminum, hollow ware and assembling radios, motor scooters, bicycles and sewing machines. There are also urea fertilizers, hydroelectric plants at Da Nhim which supply annually some 850 million kilowatts-hour of electricity for industry.

Vietnam lies on the mainland part of the Southeast Asia. The so-called Indochinese Peninsula, with longitude: 102° 10 - 109° 30 E and latitude: 8° 30 - 23° 22 N.

Viet Nam has a total territory of 127,573 square miles, and a coastline of over 2,100 miles. Viet Nam also has many small islands which bound along the coast. The most important are the Hoang-Sa or Paracels Islands, the Phu-Quoc Island and the Truong-Sa or Pratley Island. The Paracels Islands are a string of islets approximately 187 miles East of Da-Nang. The Phu-Quoc Island is located in the Gulf of Thailand approximately 22 miles from Ha-Tien. The Spratley Islands of coral origin are located about 297 miles off the coast directly East from Phan-Thiet. The Vietnamese compare this country to the shape of a dragon which symbolizes both the national unity and the national union. It has served as a powerful bond in giving the Vietnamese a sense of a common heritage and cultural unity, and has provided a symbol around which they could rally in the face of foreign invaders.

People 

Vietnam has been a center of active intercourse for large Austro-Asiatic migrations. People of different cultures settled in her territory and its surroundings. Those of the Champa, the Chen-La and the Fu-Nan prospered for a time but faded one after the other, leaving the Vietnamese to survive to the present. 

Origin of the Viet People

The origin of the Vietnamese people is shrouded in the mist of antiquity. According to L. Aurousseau and E. Chavannes, in 333 B.C. the Yuch moved from Yang-Tze-Kiang valley to South, along the coast, into the lower valley of the Red River. Claudius Madrolle argued also that the term Yuch was the Sino-Vietnamese pronunciation given in the eleventh century by the Chou dynasty to the southern part of ancient China. In this era, dissident princes who resisted the imperial power had their fields confiscated. The emperer turned the seized fields into a kingdom, the Xich-Quy, the crown of which was presented to Loc-Tuc, also known as Kinh Duong Vuong. The Xich-Quy Kingdom was bounded on the North by Dong-Dình Lake (Hu Nan province), on the south by Ho-Ton Kingdom (Champa), on the West by Ba Thuc (Szechwan) and on the East by Nam-Hai Sea.
Enthroned in 1042 B.C. the new prince included among his successors Sung-Lam, who has been worshipped by the Viet as their ancestor under the ritual title of Lac Long Quan or Sovereign of the Dragon's Lineage. It was he, whom in the beginning of the fifth century B.C. took over the realm of the SPA Yuch (Sino-Vietnamese: Bach-Viet or One hundred Yuch Tribes which included what is now North Vietnam). Having a strong fleed at his disposal, he sent off his eldest son to the mouth of the Red River with a numerous body of colonists, and thus was founded the Van-Lang Kingdom, the earliest king of which received the dynasty title of Hung-Vuong.

This hypothesis agrees with the theories of

• Pierre Huard and Maurice M. Durant that the delta of the Red River might have been the cradle of the primitive Vietnamese.
• Georges de Gironcourt also advocated that the upper part of the Tonkin delta was the native land of the Vietnamese.

It is significant that excavations undertaken in the ancient citadel of Old Conch, have unearthed the tomb of King An-Duong-Vuong, other historical remains and several arrow heads made of bronze, probably dating back to the reign of King An-Duong-Vuong (257 - 206 B.C.) who used such weapons to defend his citadel against the invading troops of the Chinese General Chao T'o. We are therefore inclined to believe that the Co-Loa spiral form citadel was the mother cell of the Vietnamese people. This people active, tenacious, persevering and courageous, marched south along the Chinese Sea, defeated and absorbed the Champa and the water Chen-La.

Researches undertaken in the Dong-Son of the Song Ma River in the present province of Thanh-Hoa by Olov Janse uncovered bronze drums which, he states, were fashioned in the Yueh technique. Other researches by Olov Janse at the ancient tombs of Lach-Truong, also in Thanh-Hoa province, unearthed bronze statuettes, similar to those of Greek deities. The discoveries confirm the southward march of the Vietnamese.

In 1774, after continuous expansion which lasted over 4,500 years, the Vietnamese arrived in Ha-Tien at the southeastern extremity of what today is their country. During the long southward march, the Vietnamese were more or less mixing with the aboriginal elements of the Indochinese peninsula. This ethnic mixing, through long centuries of common life, gave birth to a relatively homogeneous race.

The Vietnamese have a medium of 1.60 meter and are generally sustained by a strong musculature which provides exceptional endurance. Being of a peace loving nature, the Vietnamese nevertheless have always known how to react vigorously against adversities to defend their freedom and right for living, while they were constantly threatened during their long history by their powerful neighbors to the North, and attacked several times by their neighbors to the South. According to most of foreign witnesses, the Vietnamese are industrious prolific, artistic traditionalist and subtle to the art of adaptation. A people of agriculturists, they worked hard and succeeded in gradually conquering the alluvial lands of the Tonkin delta. Diligent and bent on intellectual activity they normally show great respect for learning and scholarship.

With a long artistic tradition, the Vietnamese are remarkable for the bronze, lacquer, wood and ceramic works, as well as for their particular inlaying.

The Vietnamese of former times presented clearly ethnic traits such those described by K'ung Fu Tze in his Book of Rites (Li Chi) to distinguish the Yuch from the Chinese: "They had the wrinkled forehead, the divergent big toes, short hair and tattooed body. The wrinkled on the forehead were cited as proof that they were an inquisitive people, who took an interest in the phenomena of nature as well as in fine letters. They called their nation Van Lang, the country of the "Cultured People". The big toes so prominently separated from the others, were said to denote an ability to cross the muddy and slippery rice fields and to climb the mountains with equal ease. They practiced the short hair cut with a view to better fighting, and tattooed bodies so to look like sea monsters which would score among any sea serpents from themselves".

The Ethnic Minorities
There are several ethnic minorities in Viet Nam. The most important being the Chinese, the Cambodians, and the mountain tribesmen. The mountaineers are composed of many tribes inhabiting the mountains and the high plateau. They number about 700,000.

The mountaineers of North Viet Nam are Tay, Nung, Thai, Meo, Zao. They live in the provinces of Lang-Son, Cao-Bang, Lao-Cai, Yen-Bai, Lai-Chau, Son-Tay and Mong-Cai.

In the south, the mountaineers are composed of 2 main ethnic groups.

• the Malayo-Indonesian like the Rhade living in Ban-Me-Thuot and the Jarai in Pleiku-Daklak
• The Mon-Khmer like the Bahnar and Sedan living in Kontum. Some of them settled in Pleiku.

We find also in the provinces of Tay-Ninh and Chau-Doc some Cham.

In the Central Viet Nam live the Cham in the provinces of Da-Nang, Qui-Nhon, Nha-Trang, Phan-Rang, Phan-Thiet. There are also some Muong living in the southern section of the Central Viet Nam who is skillful in the hunting of elephants.

Finally we have the Chinese who number about 1,000,000 in the whole Viet Nam.